Senior Managers work to personal agendas, the work/life balance is non-existent with scant regard for the impact this has on the associate. The HR function is too distant and does not support the associates, nor provides balance between Senior Managers and the workforce. HR is too stand off and fails to address concerns in a timely manner which ultimately leads to small problems becoming bigger issues - firefighting seems to be the preferred method of working.

Owing to the high reliance of Agency Staff, many Managers see this workforce as disposable and league tables for who sack the most agency staff is the order of the day - pretty much sums up the mentality and approach really. Progression and development depends on who you know, not what skills, attributes and strengths you have. If you speak out you become a social outcast and ostracised from the daily workings of the company, despite having the backbone to do this is one of the company’s core principles. Infrastructure is outdated and despite being one of the fastest growing companies turning over billions of dollars of profit every year, most projects and developments are deployed on a shoestring. IT is prehistoric and needs updating, culture and discipline is in general draconic and abused. Associate morale is little more than a pipe dream and it seems the unhappier you are, the less they will seek to resolve it. So if you want to work excessively long hours, for little or no reward, feel unappreciated, unvalued and be little more than a number……….step right up for a slice of Amazon life!!!

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Listen to your colleagues, uphold the company values and ethos and accept the feedback passed on. This is the most effective way to improve, progress and expand. Deal with the Senior Managers who have little to do with their time than inflate their overly exaggerated egos and pursue their own agendas. Work/Life balance means there should be a balance on both sides - hence the use of the word balance. The workforce you have deserve time with their families and friends and the freedom to feel they are not being punished for requesting this. Learn from the blogs and forums you create, when a customer says they are not happy, try to understand why and develop methods of preventing this in the future........compensation should always be your last resort.

Above all else, sort out the low morale and work with the talent and skills you employed people for in the first place. If this means getting rid of a few selfish Senior Managers who have little time for development of the business and it's associates, so be it!!

Former Employee - Account Manager in Slough, Berkshire, South East England, England

Former Employee - Account Manager in Slough, Berkshire, South East England, England

I worked at Amazon.com full-time (more than a year)

Pros

Innovation is constant, great customer loyalty to Amazon. Opportunity to work on Technology that is bleeding edge. Market leader in IaaS

Cons

Heavily Micro managed, no development, no training, no support from middle management.Indecisive management who do not even follow their own "Leadership Principles" Success is never celebrated.Employee dissatisfaction is very high hence the churn!

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Improve the culture by having less of the micro management, treat your people with respect and allow them to breathe and express themselves. Follow your own leadership principles to the latter!! Colleagues I spoke to said they are waiting to achieve their "2 Year MBA" and will move on...is that right? NO it is not its not good for the company and not good for the customer! so where is your customer obsession?

Good Software Engineering processes. You will learn a lot while working at Amazon that will be useful for the rest of your career.

Smart people working there.

Cons

Job title deflation. I'm not usually bothered by things like job titles, but after many years in the same role, it can cause real problems with your career. It also means that you are underpaid compared to other companies. Getting a promotion appears to be close to impossible.

As others have said, long hours are the norm. As well as being on call one week a month. The office being in an unpopular location in the city didn't help with the commuting time.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

The Seattle interview process doesn't work well in London. People aren't used to studying for an interview for a couple of months before getting a job here like they do in the states, as well as the sheer number of tech companies here meaning that Amazon can't afford to be as choosy.

The amount of churn going on in the office isn't normal, even for Amazon.

Former Employee - Senior Vendor Manager in Slough, Berkshire, South East England, England

Former Employee - Senior Vendor Manager in Slough, Berkshire, South East England, England

I worked at Amazon.com full-time (less than a year)

Pros

* Very strong focus on the customer (great but can be frustrating at times).* Great business model and everyone knows the brand.* Flat structure, no micromanaging / you are given a lot of ownership.* Reasonable pay (esp. given the work you are doing - see below)* Opportunity to cycle roles / departments every 18-24 months to keep developing / learning.

Cons

* Amazon in the UK is a retail company rather than a tech company (don't fool yourself into thinking it's like Google or has a start-up mentality)* VERY frugal business model e.g. horrible office in Slough and few meeting rooms which means (embarrassingly) you have to conduct external meetings in the cafeteria!* It seems the US office has all the perks.* Culture is real "love or hate" - generally quite bureaucratic and political. Very high churn - At interview, it was mentioned by different people repeatedly that people either stay for six months or 10 years (I stayed less than a year, although I know people who absolutely love it there - maybe the person you are or the department you work for?).* Amazon operates a lean operating model, heavily reliant on systems and managers have no juniors.* Real mix of people - some nice and hard-working but quite a few "coasting" doing the bare minimum which can mean it is difficult if you want to achieve and get things done and a few very incompetent / unpleasant / aggressive personalities that have been there for years and will never leave.* Flat structure, which means that you can move sideways but difficult to get promoted / grow. Titles are essentially meaningless and misleading (you are responsible for entire role / no delegation so you spend all your time fire-fighting and little time (if any) growing the business. Senior Vendor Manager = buyer in any other retail organisation).* No one seems to care how well you do and it has no effect on compensation. That, plus difficult environment (flat, political) for promotion means a poor incentive to work hard.* Work is very systems / data-driven and can be extremely mundane (e.g. answering customer complaint cases (like back and forth supplier to Amazon customer care employee to supplier to customer care employee etc etc) .* You're dumped in the deep end with a very sharp learning curve and no formal training other than you're expected to pick things up yourself or by asking people who have been there longer than you - would be fine ordinarily but there is no explanation of what you are actually meant to be doing (!!) and far too many systems with no explanations of how they work - No one takes accountability for new hires. Massively inefficient.* Takes about 3 months to master a role and then mundane work for the rest of your time in that position. If you really want to work there and want to get ahead, try to get into a growing area otherwise you're forgotten / it's more of a caretaker role...